The Opelousas courier. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1852-1910, 1887-06-11
A Very scrupulous Paper.
Iapitolian- Adyocat9


Capitolian- -Advocatee
The st. Landry Democrat, paper
that makes it a business, year in and
year out, to assail the Democratic ad-
ministration of Gov. McEnery, in re-
cent editorial, charges that Gov. McEn
cry had. shown himself can enemy to
the people, by refusing to sign a bill
repeating the clause in election law re-
quiring g the ballots to be printed upon
paper of uniform size and quality to be
obtained from the Secretary of State"
s For this statement" the Democrat
said, "we can give excellent authority" !"
Believing that the excellent author
ity" at the bottom of this charge was
none other than the fertile Imagination
of some predjudiced Reformer, We took
pains to examine the record and found
that the bill which the Governor had
failed to approve added only the words
"written orr before the word ''printed." !"
and retained all the Objectionable fea-
ture which he had requested the Legis-
lature to repeal, in his message of 1884.
The last number of the Democrat
fully corroborates the estimate we had
formed of the excellent authority" J"
that had satisfied our contemporary
that Gov. McEnery had shown himself
can enemy to the people," in this mat
ter. Forced to recede by our publica-
ton of the record, it says:
sit tthe Capitolian- -Advocate) tries to turn
the argument against us by pointing out
slight ~ i,acenracy in our statement OF the
amendment offered by Senator Kelly, at the
last session. Not h0ving the official proceed
ings of the Legislature before ats and speaking
FROM MEMORY zoe fell into THE ERROR of aseTib-
isq to the Legislature the desire to tcipe out the
sckole INFAMOUS device selattoe to the peoples
ballot"
This is but a fair sample of the reck-
lessness with which our so-called Re
formers venture to assail the Governor.
Before proceeding any further, we
wish to state that while we regard the
clause in the election law requiring the
paper to be obtained from the Secretary
of State as wholly unnecessary, yet it
iustifies no one in pronouncing it an
infamous device. The law, device and
ali, was adopted by the Democratic
caucus and, no doubt, with the best OF
motives.
But we are not astonisled at the We
hemence of the Democrat, since we
have learned that during the days OF
Warmoth and Kellogg, its editor was
actively connected with the publication
of a Radical newspaper, the Opelousas
Journal, while the famous election law
of that period gave to the registrar OF
voters the power of fixing the number
and the location of the polling places,
of appointing commissioners, of stretch
ing O rope certain distance before the
polls to prevent the bystanders from
seeing what was going on within the
booth, and finally of counting the bat-
lois in secret coacldUe at the coatrthouses
Verify, our contemporary reminds us
very forcibly of the old story about
I" swallowing an elephant and stran-
Cling at gnat!"
Now, if the relationship of the editor
of the Democrat towards the admins
trations of Warmoth and Kellogg has
been correctly reported, it occurs to us
that after he had been admitted to
membership in the Democratic church
he should not have kicked up such a
rumpus about the purity of elections
and the sacredness of the ballot, mol
Kept up such clamor against an ad.
ministration nominated and elected bJ
the Democratic party. For, a mar
whose stomach could digest the War
moth and Kellogg regimes, ought never
to become nauseated by even theNtOugh
est Democratic diet.
But this new tangled Democrat o
Democrats, and Assistant Reformer
does not stop at this. He has seen Fl
to indulge in fling ut the Capitolian
Advocate, which it styles "the Govern
or's personal organ and most unscrupu
lous apologist," doubtless because thi
paLer has not permitted the Democrat
malicious charges upon the GoverDo
to go unrefuted and unrebuked.
The standing of the two papers is a
different as day is to night. The Cap
itolian- Advocate dates its DemOcrac.
from it's birth, forty-five years ago, ant
the present editor, himself a life-lon!
Democrat, is hewing closely to the lin
that was blazed by the host of fonoret
Democrots who have preceded him. ID
| trusts that his firm support OF Demo
cratic Governor who distinguished him
self in the struggle to redeem the Stat
from Radical rule, and whose fsalty t
his party, efficient services to the Stat
and integrity, cannot be successfull.
disputed, will merit the appreciation q
all the fair minded readers of the Cap
itolian- Advocate.
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